The urgent and argumentative problems of philosophy and history of philosophy of the Islamic region in the context of global socio-cultural development, in particular, the level of development of modern science and philosophy.

The publication presents issues for reflection and potential themes for future studies. It consists of the following sections:

Unity as a philosophical conception and methodology of interdisciplinary studies;

Comparativistics and “fuzzy logics” as methodologies of studies

History of culture

Science

Philosophy

Issues of epistemology

Mystics

History of philosophy

Philosophy of Islamic region

Problems of Azerbaijan studies.

According to the author, the concentration on the problems presented in the sections is expedient and significant in studies of the history of ethnic-national, regional and global levels of philosophy, in particular, the history of philosophy of the individual nations of the Islamic realm and the philosophy of region of the Islamic culture as a whole.

Zumrud Kulizade

(Azerbaijan)

THE NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE LIGHT OF MODERN MULTICULTURALISM

The article presents multiculturalism as a political ideology and state policy in relation to the culture of the so-termed “non-titular nations” living in the given state. It points out the universality of the phenomenon in the history of culture, its potentials either to promote or hamper the development of culture as well as its specificity in the modern socio-cultural development in the Western and post-Soviet regions. It reviews the reflection of the essential change of the content of the post-Soviet multiculturalism against the background of the multiculturalism of the Soviet period and its reflection in the conceptual approaches to the interpretation of a number of general and relatively-peripheral issues of meta-philosophy and the history of philosophy in The New Encyclopedia of Philosophy (in four volumes, Moscow, 2010). The article emphasizes:The absence of novelties in The New Encyclopedia of Philosophy in interpretation of the content of the main categorical mechanism of philosophy, tracking, herewith of the historical experience of various regional philosophical cultures and the modern tendency towards the integration and globalization of the local cultures in the system of the world culture. The inexplicability of exclusion of the philosophical cultures of a number of nations of the Islamic realm, including the nations of the Turkic areal from the philosophy of the Arabic-Islamic region, the presentation of the main notions of the Arabic-Islamic philosophy associating them with the grammar of the Arabic language. The bias and inconformity of the scientific ethics of excluding from the Encyclopedia the articles on the philosophy of the non-Russian nations of the former USSR – of Southern Caucasus, Middle Asia, Kazakhstan as well as the non-Russian nations who continue to remain within the Russian Federation – the Tatars, the Bashkir – the nations whose philosophy has been elucidated in special articles of The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (in 5 volumes, Moscow, 1960-1970). The downsized presentation or almost complete exclusion of the information on the philosophies of the nations of the Republics of the former USSR, in particular Azerbaijan when considering the histories of the philosophies of the nations of the USSR. Taking into account the positive assessment of the conception of the Encyclopedia by the government of the Russian Federation, the above stated testifies to the clearly-pointed difference of the post-Soviet multiculturalism reflected in a number of articles of The New Encyclopedia of Philosophy from the multiculturalism of the Soviet epoch.

Seidova Gulchohre

(Daghistan)

THE MISSION OF ART IN THE SPIRITUAL CULTURE OF MOSLEMS – SHIITES

Proceeding from the universal interrelations of religion, philosophy and the art of formation of spiritual culture, the article considers the mission – the place and role of the art in the Shiite cultural tradition of the Islamic region. The theme is developed through the references to the definite realia, in particular, the cultural traditions of the North-Caucasian nations in the given region. The article also considers the ideational sources including the philosophy of “wahdat al-wujud” in the formation of the esthetic notions and art of the Shiite-orientation as well as their difference from the Sunnite notions. The problem is presented theoretically as well in the scheme of a definite elucidation of different forms of art, painting, miniature, the artistic design of manuscripts, architecture, theatre of the city of Derbent, one of the most ancient cultural centres of the Caucasus – the famous city-museum. As the author writes, the elements of different ethnic cultures merged in the art of the Moslems-Shiites; consequently, a single esthetic space was created from the art of different nations and countries, in the meantime successfully maintaining also the indigenous artistic traditions. And this art has unconsciously produced high feelings, wakened the idea of the splendor, beauty, harmony and unbounded nature of being.

Seidova Gulchohre

(Daghistan)

THE PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPTION OF UNITY IN THE MODERN STUDIES OF AZERBAIJANI SCHOLARS

The article is devoted to the study of the conception of unity in the Azerbaijani national philosophy and was presented as a report to the VI All-Russian Philosophy Congress held in Nyzhny Novgorod in June 2012. It considered the conception proposed by the Azerbaijani scholar, Doctor of Philosophical Sciences Z.Gulizadeh as a general philosophical methodology of the process of the scientific perception, i.e. interdisciplinary methodology in the context of consideration of methodological principles in the history of philosophy. Unlike the conception of “unity” in Russian philosophy and the modern conception of “neo-unity”, the present conception of unity of the material and ideal beginnings (irrespective of the form they appear in) as the original causes and original bases of existence was presented in the combination of methodological principles of “fuzzy logics” of Lutfi Zadeh and comparative studies. The article argues in favour of appropriateness of wording of the conception of unity as a scientific methodology suggested by the representatives of different fields of the Modern Azerbaijani science, in particular, the author of the article refers to the publications of speeches of Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, Doctor of Physics and Mathematical Sciences M.Aliyev, Doctor of Physics and Mathematical Sciences O.Abdinov, Academicians of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, Doctor of Geological Sciences A.Alizadeh, Doctor of Medical Sciences Ch.Alizadeh, Doctors of Philosophical Sciences A.Abbassov, A.Shirinov, R.Mirzazadeh, F.Gurbanov, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, Doctor of Biological Sciences I.Huseinova and so on.

Aslan Topakkaya

(Turkey)

ABOUT QUESTIONABLE ISSUES OF THE EXISTENCE OF PANTHEISMIN HEGEL PHILOSOPHY

The author claims that Hegel is not a pantheistic philosopher on the basis of the above mentioned critiques and comments that Hegel addressed Spinoza. Although in his inferences the author referred to Hegel and some other philosophers, unfortunately, he did not use Spinoza directly. According to the author, there is an idea of the Deity’s [Tanri’s] abstract absolute oneness in Spinoza’s pantheism; however, the idea that before the existence of the Deity the other creatures’ possession of the degree of existence is unfounded. For Spinoza does not attach importance to the view of the Deity’s moral unity or he fails to justify this idea in his pantheism. And the second important issue is that even if the Deity were an extract, his presence is individual, i.e. it is separate from other creatures, and independent. Besides this, there is another contradicting view in Hegel’s philosophy that the adherents of any religion imagine the Deity as a concrete object. Hegel exposes Spinoza to criticism for the latter’s having formed such a vision, but A.Topaggaya, the author of the article states that such a vision has not been observed in Spinoza’s pantheism obviously. Hegel’s another remark against Spinoza is that it would be more appropriate to say “Everything is from the Deity” rather than “Everything is the Deity”. The author points out that in this connection the similar ideas are expressed also in the Islamic philosophy, including in the science of kalam. Especially, it is known that Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi had the same view. In his religious philosophy Hegel emphasizes that in the absolute sense existence belongs to the Deity, and the creatures beyond his existence can only constitute the proof of his existence. Hegel says, “How can we understand the existence of God without the universe?” In his efforts to find an answer to this question, Hegel claims that seeking the Deity is an innate sense in the human, not created later on, and also points out the existence of this sense even in atheists. According to the philosopher, the pantheistic thoughts are also important from the moral point of view, because making a choice between good and bad in an extreme situation is of great significance in the moral philosophy. The moral philosophy recognizes the Deity as good in the absolute sense. He is always good, and a bad thing must not be attributed to Him.

While stating his attitude towards Hegel’s critical thoughts addressed against Spinoza’s pantheism, he treated Hegel’s religious philosophy also critically. As according to the author, while commenting on some philosophical issues the mentioned philosopher gave more priority to the Christian religious fanaticism. The Conclusion emphases that in his religious philosophy Hegel, the representative of the classical German philosophy criticizes Spinoza’s pantheistic philosophy, however, at the same time he acts as an active fanatic of the Christian philosophy.

Abdulguddyus Bingol

(Turkey)

ON ISLAMIC THINKING AND ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY

The article attempts to present a wide explanation of the meanings of the terms “Islamic thinking” and “Islamic philosophy” known in the frames of the cultural history of Islam, elucidates the meanings of the terms “Islam”, “thinking” and “philosophy”, and in this regard identifies the peculiarities of “Islam” and of the intellecual movements and trends in Islam. According to the author, one should add that like in the terms “Western philosophy”, “Indian philosophy”, in the definite attributes like “Islamic thinking” and “Islamic philosophy” the notions “Islam”, “thinking” and “philosophy” have an attributive peculiarity, thus alluding to the activities of thinking and philosophy within the Islamic culture. It is noted that in the earlier periods the Moslems’ world of science and thinking was rather based on the Gur’an and sunnah. In the second period the Islamic thinking acquired various forms. First “fiqh” – the science of Islamic law, i.e. shariat was developed to systemize the Moslems’ social life alongside with the Gur’an and the science of hadithes. In answer to it, tasawwuf appeared to give priority to the divine love instead of the sense of absolute obedience of the faqihs. No matter how much the Islamic thinking, which developed in the period before the emergence of philosophy in the Islamic world, influenced the Islamic philosophy, some conclusions reached by the philosophers, especially in metaphysics did not answer the thinking of ahl-i sunna. Thus, philosophy was exposed to a strong pressure in a definite form in the person of Ghazali. To continue its existence against the pressures, the philosophic thinking had to find a new environment to survive beyond the sunnis. The search resulted in “tasawwuf” and “kalam”. As tasawwuf, which initially emerged only as a special life style, an ethical formula, and merged with the path and form of a gnostic (irfani) notion of philosophy in knowledge, and its theory of “wahdati-wujud” in existence, had already philosophicised, as stated also by Ibn Khaldun. However, the article points out that the theoretical views like “tasawwuf and kalam” are definitely not a philosophy. At the end of the article the author rises a question wondering while the term “Islamic thinking” embracing all the mental activities existing in the Islamic world embraces only a philosophic thinking in the sense understood by everybody within that thinking, whether it is correct to use the term “Islamic philosophy” in this field. In conclusion he infers that the objective study and analysis of the historical legacy of the Islamic thinking are possible only as a joint cooperation between the theologians and philosophers, because in the Islamic thinking, especially in metaphysics the divine is in such a unity with the non-divine that there is a great need in the joint cooperation of the specialists in the region to differentiate (separate) them from each other.